1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a floor finish applicator and more particularly to an automatic floor finish applicator for applying a liquid wax or other finish to a floor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Automatic apparatus for scrubbing and vacuuming floors are known, but heretofore the application of a liquid wax or other such finish to a floor has been accomplished principally by hand. For a large shopping mall, such an operation could take as much as 80 hours of time for a single individual to apply a coat of wax to the floor. One method of doing this job by hand is to have one individual spreading or spraying the wax on the floor and have another individual following behind the first individual walking through the wax and dragging a mop or other type of wax spreader through the wet wax in order to distribute the wax on the floor evenly and smoothly. This is a long, inefficient, and sometimes not very satisfactory procedure for applying a finish to a floor.
One type of device heretofore designed for applying a wax finish to a floor comprises a frame that holds a container for liquid wax and a feed line that feeds the wax by gravity to an outlet nozzle positioned behind the frame. The outlet nozzle sprays the wax on the floor, and a mop mounted behind the frame is pulled through the wet wax as the frame is rolled across the floor. Problems are encountered with this apparatus, because the pressure with which the finish is applied to the floor is directly related to the amount of liquid in the tank, since the tank is operated on a gravity basis. Also, it is difficult to apply a wax finish in a corner of a room, because the mop is rigidly attached to the back of the frame and the frame must be swiveled around several times before the mop can be inserted in the corner of the room. This procedure is time consuming and results in substantial overlapping of wax and a generally sloppy job in corners.
Another deficiency with this type of apparatus is that it is merely a device for applying a wax finish and is not sufficiently adjustable or adaptable to be used in applying other types of finishes to floors. Indeed, it lacks even the necessary adjustment to achieve variation in the manner in which the wax finish is applied to the floor, such as by varying the thickness of the wax coating or the manner in which the wax is sprayed on the floor.